Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Is it just me or is this a rather half-baked idea for a museum?A new museum is aiming to draw tourists away from the charms of sun and sea and entice them into learning about ... stoves.The Stove Museum's administrators hope that the new facility will convince tourists to seek out culture as well as the traditional Mediterranean delights.

“We
cannot get tourists to leave the hotels. We need to present ourselves
more. We need tourists to go outside of the hotels and see the town and
its environs,” said Antalya's deputy governor, speaking at the opening of the museum in Balbey.Although the southern resort area draws in around 11 million tourists each year, they tend to stay in their resorts or their Turkish homes, Yuksel said.He added that as well as the Stove Museum, other new attractions include a Toy Museum and an art centre.The Stove Museum will feature a children's section and exhibits showing stoves constructed of different materials.Antalya's mayor Mustafa Akaydin added hilariously that: “Stoves are a part of our culture, but they have
lost their attraction. We would like to keep the value of stoves alive.”